Stay positive, play positive

Having lost the five-match series at Gwalior, Pakistan must go into the last game on a positive note.

They have a huge Test series coming up immediately after this and Shoaib Malik must motivate his men to try and carry some momentum into the first Test in New Delhi.

For that, they should ideally look for a face-saving win in Jaipur to exit the series gracefully.

It is not an impossible task. There have been some positives, but the team must now come together and play with some consistency.

Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan and Salman Butt have all got runs; Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul have had some effective spells, but they have been marred by a series of indifferent performances.

Against such a motivated and well-balanced Indian side, their efforts have simply not been good enough.

Another loss, and I am afraid Pakistan will find it almost impossible to come back even in the Test matches.

As I have pointed out earlier in my columns, there has been an absence of planning in their efforts and performances have suffered as a consequence.

The Gwalior loss was particularly painful as it was a defendable total, but there was little or no thought at all into containing the Indian batsmen.

Overall, the Indians have come together as a unit very well, and Pakistan simply have not been able to do that. I am at a loss to understand this, because a series against India consists of such huge matches.

One reason, and this is something I have said umpteen times before, is the presence of foreign coaches.

It is now close to eight years that the Pakistan team have had an overseas coach, but there has been almost nothing to show for all of that time. In fact, in many areas, I believe, the squad has retreated backwards.

The batting has suffered, the bowlers are just not delivering, while the fielding has become abominable.

In such a situation, though I would very much like to see Pakistan turn the tide, I feel it is going to be a very hard task indeed.

A lot of cricket is played in the mind, and I just have not seen the intensity needed in this team. The morale too has slumped and the players are making all sorts of basic mistakes.

No cricket team can hope to depend on two-three players in match after match and hope to survive.

Against this well-balanced and motivated Indian side, that is like asking for the impossible to happen.

On the few occasions Pakistan have managed to put India under pressure, they have at least had a fighting chance. The other matches have been one-sided affairs. And to my mind, this is the biggest failing of the coaching staff.

They simply have to change their approach, but time too is running out. Jaipur could be a springboard for a comeback in the Test matches, but it will be a long and hard slog. (News Watch Asia)